Video chat has been around for a long time on laptops and PCs, and even mobile phones have given it a good old college try before, but it wasn’t until Apple introduced FaceTime with the iPhone 4 that the feature not only became popular, but synonymous with a full-featured modern cellphone.

Is anyone surprised, then, at word that Microsoft is hard at work trying to put together a FaceTime competitor for their Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system?

According to Neowin, their source is a “key WP7 employee” who spoke to them under the condition of anonymity at CES. Asked about FaceTime, the WP7 worker said that Microsoft was working hard in the lab to add a similar feature, which would be bundled with Microsoft Live services allowing it to work — just like FaceTime — across multiple platforms and devices.

Other than that, there’s a lot of questions, and according to Neowin, their source refused to even be pinned down about whether or not Microsoft’s FaceTime was meant for WP7 or if it might not even be delayed until Windows Phone 8. One thing’s for sure: until WP7 handsets start shipping with forward facing cameras, it’s pretty irrelevant all around.